Orlando is getting ready to provide free public Wi-Fi access points throughout the Parramore community near downtown.
As a routine matter Monday, the City Council agreed to employ the design and planning consultant VBH to map out about 25 Wi-Fi locations. They could include light poles or a bus station or one of Orlando's specially designed, solar-powered park tables known as "tables of connection."
The network of Wi-Fi access points will be funded, initially at least, with federal money through Accelerate Orlando. The amount approved for the planning portion on Monday was $123,462.
Sustainability and Resilience Director Mike Hess said the goal is not really to provide coverage for every home.
"Now, if you live really close to an access point, it will probably be available in your home," he said. "But this is, this is really intended to be more outdoor, public Wi-Fi."
When they come online, perhaps in about a year, he said, any Parramore resident should be able to connect to high-speed internet within a short walk of their front door.
Orlando is offering free internet access elsewhere through its tables of connection in parks and internet hotspots on loan from the city.
With this network, it's looking to do even more to narrow the digital divide in Parramore, where median household incomes are one-third to one-fifth the city average and nearly half its residents don't have high-speed internet.
"[W]e're trying to target this initiative in Paramore, because they have some of the lowest numbers in terms of internet access," Hess said. "We really want to make sure that they have those equal opportunities to be able to access the internet like the rest of us and take advantage of it."
At Monday's meeting District 5 City Commissioner Shan Rose, who represents Parramore, thanked Hess for his efforts.
"We saw during COVID that our families had did not have access to the internet," she said. "So this is the first step in planning and looking at how do we create opportunities for Wi-Fi throughout our communities."
